A solo developed when Hoch and NYU's Creative Arts Team visited adolescents in a detention center for "conflict-resolution-through drama" workshops, Jails is a co-production with The Philadelphia Fringe Festival and started performances at the Painted Bride Art Center, Sept. 15.

Characters in Hoch's show range from a philosophizing, heroin-addicted prison inmate with AIDS to a pimple faced white teenager from Montana to a promiscuous rap star to a Puerto Rican office worker taken aback by her boyfriend's desire to wear a condom. The show was developed and directed by Jo Bonney (Stop Kiss).

Hoch's rapping description of the show: "Ya see, I ain't ya average twenty somethin grunge type of slacker. I'm not your herb flavor-of-the-month, I ain't no cracker. An actor? Come on now, you know you wanna ask me...I'll use my skin privileges to flag you down a taxi..."

Hoch, a native of Queens, won an OBIE award for Some People, which toured 35 cities in the US, visited three foreign countries, and became an HBO special. Jails was nominated for a Drama Desk Award and will be made into a feature film and spoken word CD. * Also on tap for the PTC season:

Back in 1959, she was one of the first black artists to cross into the all white pop charts. With such hits as "What A Difference A Day Makes" and "Come Rain or Come Shine," not to mention her great duet with Brook Benton, "Baby, You've Got What It Takes," Dinah Washington became a legendary songstress before she died at a mere 39.

Oliver Goldstick's drama with music, Dinah Was, captures the singer at the peak of her fame, telling of her battles with racism and career in the music business. Dinah will play Oct. 22 - Nov. 20 at PTC's home base at the Plays & Players Theatre.

A second mainstage show (Jan. 21-Feb. 20, 1999) has yet to be announced.

The 1999 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, Wit by Margaret Edson, will play March 17 - April 16, 2000 at The Plays & Players Theatre. The tragic drama is about an icy but verbally-nimble poetry professor stricken with fourth-stage ovarian cancer.

A woman of few but well-selected words, both in her plays and in life, Edson told Playbill On-Line that winning the Pulitzer Prize, "Feels delightful." Nevertheless, all the attention over Wit hasn't affected her day-to-day existence the way we might imagine. "The talk of New York isn't as relevant outside New York as inside," she said. "Once the school day begins, nothing from the outside has any impact at all." Edson also noted that a classroom of five-year olds is unlikely to treat her like a literary superstar.

Asked whether the acclaim for Wit would change her mind about not writing any more plays, Edson told PBOL, "I have one other play, Satisfied, which nobody likes. I'm changing the title to `Dissatisfied,' and I don't plan to work on it again... If Wit is successful, it's because this is the one play I really wanted to write. I'm not interested in establishing a career as a playwright. If there's something else I really want to say, then I'll write another."

Edson added that no particular play -- or work of art, for that matter -- directly influenced her decision to write Wit. She wrote it as a theatrical piece because, "No other format occurred to me. I wasn't interested in novels or stories or essays."

She reiterated her oft-told claim that her day job is far more fulfilling than any ambition toward fame and recognition. "The thing about teaching elementary school.. it's simply the way you go through the day. No external event matters. It's only yourself going through the day." Asked why she chose to teach such young pupils rather than sharing her obvious erudition with grad students, Edson replied, "This is a lot more fun. Teaching in graduate school, you don't get to sing, dance or laugh. I do that every day." Not surprisingly, when asked to define the most important theme of Wit, Edson replies in one sentence: "The play is about grace."

The 1998-99 Tony Award winning play, Side Man by Warren Leight will finish out PTC's 99-00 Season, May 26 - June 25, 2000. The play, still running on Broadway, is a jazz-based drama that tells of a man's love of jazz ruining his marriage -- and his wife's sanity.

For tickets or more information on Philadelphia Theatre Company's season, call (215) 568-1920.